LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

I was delighted to see that The Pitt News covered two important issues this… Dear Editor,

I was delighted to see that The Pitt News covered two important issues this past week: access to affordable contraception for university students (Prices up for birth control, Jan. 25th), and the important link between abortion and contraception (Speaker sees link between abortion, poverty, Jan. 29th). As I noted, abortions rarely occur without unwanted pregnancies, which is why it’s startling that even while rates of unintended pregnancy are decreasing for wealthier women – a 20 percent decrease – women living closer to poverty have actually seen a 29 percent increase in unintended pregnancy in recent years.

If we take abortion and unintended pregnancy seriously, we must ensure that women have access to protection even if they’re low-income, underinsured, have insurance that doesn’t cover contraception or students. I want to clarify that condoms and the birth control pill are effective for preventing pregnancy among sexually active women, much more so than not using any method. However, they’re more difficult to use than the IUD or the Nuvaring, a fact that can lead to incorrect usage and increase failure rates. We should make sure that women have the best methods available, no matter the cost.

Erika Fricke efricke@ppwp.org